I'm having a nightmare time with my Morris!!
My great grandfather George Morris, (then living in Lampeter Velfrey), claims to be 29 and born in 'St. Daniel's, Pembroke' on the 1901 census. St. Daniel's is just a church, not a district by the way, on a hill overlooking the town of Pembroke, so it is kind of odd that he specifies it by name. There are a few farms round about but that's it.
His death certificate of 1936 shows him as being aged 64 and therefore ties in with the 1901 census agewise
So I find a George Morris born in Pembroke - 28th June 1871 which fits in perfectly with the census and the death certificate, but when I get the birth certificate he's born in Pembroke Dock, 6 miles from St. Daniel's, and has a father also named George - a soldier! Why mention St Daniel's, Pembroke when he was actually born 6 miles away by a dockyard! Something not quite right.
Then I also found him on the 1891 census with the same birthplace - St. Daniel's again .... but claiming to be 21 - suddenly 2 years older?
His marriage certificate with the right wife (Martha Thomas), living in the right place at the right time (Crunwere 1893) lists him as being 23 (again the extra 2 years) and with a father called not George but James - also a soldier - deceased!!!
Obviously the birth certificate and/or the marriage are wrong, and I don't' know which, or both. My hunch is it's the birth certificate and I got the wrong George. Trouble is I can''t find the right one! Can't find the father either .... be he George Morris or James Morris, and I wonder if they were garrisoned overseas or fighting in the Zulu Wars (600 Welsh Borderers from Pembroke Dock died in that war - 1979, so the dates would tie in), I don't think I'm ever gonna find them! Without George's birth certificate I can't find the mother ... so I'm stuck.
It is absolutely driving me nuts.
Don't even let me start on Martha Thomas, his wife (nee Morris) of Laugharne. I had her all sorted out too, until I saw the extra two years on the marriage certificate (she should have been 20, not 22 as listed) and the father is written as Richard instead of the William I was expecting!
What is going on here? Do others have these problems? Do you also find the ages change from census to census? Would they lie and say they are two years older on their marriage certificate? Why would they do that?
Is it always like this? HEEEEELP!?!
